PMRDF districts

Districts where we are placed currently.

Koraput Diary - reflections & insights from the tribal land of Koraput

With the beginning of this New Year we are completing almost six months at Koraput. These initial days were filled with excitement and zeal to do something new and better in the district. The topography and difficult terrain of the district does provide an interesting opportunity to work amongst the tribal communities.

Within this period we visited a number of places, met a number of people from different backgrounds to expose myself as much as possible to the various issues and challenges concerning this region. We have had series of meetings with civil society groups. We had discussions with journalists, academicians & researchers. We tried visiting some of the interior pockets of the district which coincidentally happen to be the stronghold of our ‘bhai log’ (as naxals are usually known in this region) to get a first-hand understanding of the ground reality.

As known to everyone Koraput has remained as one of the most backward districts of the country with poverty rates as high as 90 percent. Historic exploitation of the tribals coupled with administrative negligence (we don’t mean negligence by the district administration only but also by the State) has made the situation worse. Our interaction with all stakeholders and my exposure to ground reality reaffirms our thought that many core issues affecting the tribal communities that have not been addressed ever since independence, whether it is the recognition of their customary rights, or access to productive assets such as land, market and credit.

 

From all my interactions and visits so far few things stand out very prominent; first being the gap between the administration and the people in the region and second being the mismatch between the real need of the people and our planning process. These two major issues have been manifested in many different ways as described below.

As we were trying to glance through the budget of the district over the past few years, we were surprised to see the proportion of money being spent on connectivity related infrastructure (mainly roads) and very little on improving the lives of the people. Roads, despite being a critical factor for improving lives, cannot alone bring change in the lives unless supplemented with substantial investments to improve the delivery of basic services, which has not happened.

Second prominent issue is the land-livelihood issue. As official statistics reveal that only 20 percent of the total population is landless but the actual scenario is completely different & grave. Thousands are yet to see their land patta even though official records have their mention, many of them who have been lucky to get the patta find it difficult to identify their land in absence of proper demarcation and there are many who are waiting to get their land surveyed and registered in their name. In the absence of any productive asset people depend on the forest or migrate to work elsewhere for pittance.

Third is the administrative deficiency in matching the planning process with the real need of the people. There is a gap between the administration and the common tribal man. As a result the needs and aspiration seldom get addressed or even heard in the planning process. The recently concluded Gram Sabha Empowerment Programme of the State Government does bring in a positive hope, where probably for the first time Gram Sabha was conducted in its true sense across the state.

Fourth, as we are trying to understand the banquet of schemes being implemented, each and every day we get new learnings and insights both positive and negative in nature. While we see the success of MGNREGA in various places we are pained by the misuse of funds in many places. In some places you get to see beautiful IAY colonies on the other hand you will come across hundreds of cases where the beneficiary had to bribe the issuing clerk and other officials or the local MLA pressurizing the officials to include his supporters in the IAY list.

While many of the problems can be solved locally there are many problems which need policy level changes at different tiers. One very clear case is MGNREGA. All of us every now and then do hear about the delay in payment among the many other complaints. But if one critically analyses the fund flow process then it won’t be very difficult to realize that the sheer design of the programme has been on a supply driven mode instead of being demand driven in much contradiction to the high decibel rhetoric of our politicians.

Left Wing Extremism or in plain words Naxalism is a completely different arena all together. While, like many of you we do believe that it is not a law and order problem but my limited experience in these region makes us to feel that it is slowly turning out to be one soon! This statement is not devoid of our understanding of their demands which are genuine including the demand for land for the tribals, which have remain unaddressed till date nevertheless this cannot be superimposed with extortion and rampant violence which is on the rise.

While our daily schedule involves undertaking review and monitoring visits, attending various meetings and brainstorming with the collector, our focus has been to find answers to the questions of poverty, deprivation and backwardness.

We are trying to explore things as much as possible with the limited resource available. Weather is extremely good round the year as Koraput stands at an altitude of 2900 sq.ft. The region is endowed with natural beauty and thus Koraput is truly Heaven’s own (as the tagline goes...).

Kuldip & Omprakash

Stipend'ing'

Just read an article in 'The Hindu' which was about the challenges facing our finmin before introducing the budget . The point on 'non-plan expenditure' , which needs to be pruned to meet the fiscal targets (must be the previous years')  is of particular relevance to all the fellows because , it involves salaries of government employees along with interest payments etc.

The government is in a spot of bother because it cant delay the salaries of regular employees and just cant avoid the interest payments . The only solution to this involves cutting down expenditure on schemes that might do well even with a delay . This is how we , the PMRDF's are now contributing/influencing the macroeconomics of the country while keeping ourselves busy with our micro world.

cheers,
phani kiran.

P.S : I am just being speculative here and the views can be subjected to thorough criticism.

refer:  http://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/a-tough-balancing-act/article4422699.ece?homepage=true

Inertia to write

After the death of Dadabhai Naoroji ,the grand old man of india , the people who accessed his personal files found thousands of letters ,pamphlets,booklets and newspaper cuttings among his many personal things . The  great man had an obsession to pen down everything ranging from his plumber's visit to the informed debates with the Tories. In fact ,Naoroji's papers , as they are now famously called is a collection of a whopping 25000 items. No wonder , he went on to become a mentor for many Indians , who aspired to study in England , including a 'village boy' from porbandar.

Fast forward a hundred years , letter writing is no longer considered a cumbersome activity . In fact ,each one of us would have beaten Naoroji's 25000 figure quite comprehensively ,thanks to e(asy)-mail ,SMS,etc . It is exactly for this reason ,that i was surprised , when Mr.Jairam Ramesh during one of our interactions said that , " we Indians don't have the habit of writing " . Though it was said on a serious note , i refused to believe him then . But after looking at the activities of the PMRDF's on the google groups , from the past few months i feel that he was right.

The statistics option on the google groups(PMRDFS2) reveal the picture of the fellows' activity on the group . The number of posts in the group is declining steadily while the number of topics ,more or less remains the same (from october). There are just handful of contributors , who keep the group active while the others remain totally inactive . After looking at the statistics, i started thinking about the possible reasons for this non - participation and came up with the following possibilities:
1. Fellows don't have access to good Internet facility.
2. Got too busy with their work (these are the luckiest chaps according to me :P)
3. Fellows think they don't have anything to add to the discussions.
4. They are not comfortable conveying their opinions in English ,so prefer staying away.
5. Fellows are not added in the group . (and other admin related issues)
6.Fellows are active in their local groups(state groups).
6. They just chose to be indifferent.(the most unfortunate one)

 We were such a great group during the training , we just can't let the distance,language or terrain diminish our team spirit . We should share our experiences more often and be ready to help the fellows in need of some guidance .The peer review exercise taken up by Ankush & Co. is really a timely intervention and its time we participate and make it fruitful . At this juncture, i am looking forward to suggestions and ideas from the fellows to bring more people to participate in the group's activities. You may also comment on the relevance of the topic and raise objections ,if any.

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Phani.

Wisdoms from Babudom

Great lessons that the world of babus - Babudom has for us to learn..
1. Corruption in our world is like a layer of dust on a piece of machinery - nobody bothers to clean it nor does it get thicker with time.
2. बन के रहो पगला, तोह काम करेगा अगला!!
Acting stupid is the best way to avoid work. We work efficiently, and we are made to slog like a donkey.
3. The 'Poker' is a babus best friend.
Staplers, paper clips, pins, punching machines and all stationary gets lost in the muddle called our 'office' but the poker (to make holes) always remains by our side!
4. When in Babudom, do as the babus do. You simply don't ask Why.
5. The earlier one reaches 'office' to work, the closer he is to the rank of a clerk!

Seeing is Believing

They say "Seeing is Believing". But what about the underlying details that one cannot see with naked eyes? What if you know that whatever you are seeing is just half the truth or may be window-dressing and still the evidences vouch against it? I have been trying to understand the village dynamics ever since i entered this field but seriously this is one hell of a task. People are unpredictable. You would never know whats in store for you.

I went for the inspection of a pond under MGNREGS which had recently attracted some media attention. It was alleged that though NREGA funds had been extracted in the name of pond rejuvenation yet no actual work was done. I'll leave behind what the actual case was and what all was found in the end. My focus centers around PEOPLE. I was baffled with the way people behaved. The person on whose statement the whole media report was based denied that he said anything about the pond. A jovial young man. He said, "Madam bulaiye uss reporter ko fone karke. Jhooth likha hai". Agreed!!!

Then came 2 NREGA workers. While I was talking to one of the workers the MATE very smartly turned his back against me and started strolling near the second worker. And there he went mumbling something in the ear of that worker. I gave a sharp look and the worker showed as if nothing passed between him and the MATE. Teamwork!!!!

Then came a lady who talked incessantly. She proclaimed how she and the whole village had gained from the pond and that the allegations were all wrong. Later I came to know she was MATE's mother. Great!!!

The workers said they received the payments on time. When asked about the jobcard they said its with the MATE. MATE clarified he took the jobcards just yesterday. The workers didn't know what to say. They probably didn't know that the jobcard is their own property. They changed their statements every now and then. "Just yesterday" conveniently changed to 1 week. In the meanwhile, the mother kept interfering with her shrill and unstoppable blah blah. I understood what putting words in one's mouth literally means. Eureka!!!

I felt like Sherlock Holmes....judging every minuteness in the surroundings. Things were being fabricated. But the evidence missing. The papers/records vouched work had been done. JE, MATE, Labours,Passers By- all testified the same. Seeing the site with my own eyes made me believe that work had actually been done. But something did miss my eyes!!!!

Seeing is Believing?????????

The hunt for an APO

Surajpur being a newly formed district [Jan 2012], recruitment is one activity that is always under focus. And so was taken up the task of appointing an Assistant Project Officer (APO) for NREGA in the DRDA some time in July 2012 which ended as a long chase - probably the first time the government would have chased someone to give her a job! 
The process started with publishing advertisements and inviting applications after which the candidates were asked to appear for written exams. A major challenge in a democratic setup is convincing all individuals about the authenticity of the results. And the task becomes much more difficult when the written exam is a subjective paper. Thus, the process followed is that after publishing results, applicants are given a few days to raise objections and their concerns are addressed. It is a slow and painful process that took us till October 2012 to resolve. However, a talented young individual was selected and we were happy to have another helping hand in our staff - starved organization.
The joining letter was sent to the young man and he was given a week's time to join. Almost 20 such notices of appointment are also sent to various departments at the state, district and block level. Talented young men don't come without their issues, and after multiple calls to him on the last day given for joining, we realized that he wasn't going to join. Delayed by another week, we decided to send the joining letter to the next candidate on the list - a young lady this time. Young ladies too have their idiosyncracies and the address on our madame's application was too confusing to understand and without a phone number. We were all convinced that India Post, with all the issues of its own, would never be able to deliver the letter to this lady's address in time. However, the 20 notices of appointment had to be sent again and so was sent the letter of joining as well. But it was also decided that we would try and find the lady's address and hand deliver it to her so that she could join on time. Thus began the hunt for our APO.
We first enquired about the locality. The name of the locality was itself misspelt - a local thankfully helped us identify it. The house number mentioned in the address was the number given by the municipality, and there is no way of finding out which house has which number other than guessing where the particular number could be and then asking individual households. A local politician came to our help who, based on where the people of that caste lived, gave us a rough idea where the house could be. Without the lady's father's name in the address even our local politician found it difficult!
The next step was then to ask individual households in the area identified. We got lucky there, as the first family we contacted, being of the same cast as our madame, knew that house. They also knew that the girl had applied for a job and thus followed some curious questions about why we were searching for her and if we had appointed her. Excited as we were, we told them the entire story about the job. Moving on from there in the direction told to us, finding the lady's house even then took us four more consultations and answering curious questions about why the search. Luckily, before the entire mohalla could know that there was a search going on for the lady and we had a job for her, we found her house in a discrete part of the mohalla.
Thus, after the long journey, the letter had finally reached its destination! There s great hope that with madame joining in this Monday [November 2012], the 5 months' hunt for an APO will end too!!!